Friday, June 25, 2010

Brycey Boy

Usually when I talk about my kids going through phases, it's usually Caroline. She's so dramatic and so prone to screaming and yelling about something she doesn't like. Whereas Bryce, while he definitely has a temper and can flare, he's generally my more mild mannered child. That hasn't really changed but we're noticing more and more things lately that make us realize how he's growing and changing. Not that I never noticed before, but as he's approaching the big 5, things are a little different and sometimes frustrating.

Bryce seems to have the current family title of "tattletale." Ugh. It's never about Bryce, it's always about what Caroline and Piper are doing. Don't try and blame Bryce for anything because he had NOTHING to do with it. Heck, when Bryce trips and falls down, he immediately yells at the closest person to him for pushing him. Seriously, that is NOT an exaggeration.

Bryce is constantly complaining about something these days it seems too. He's hungry. He's hot. He's cold. His leg hurts. His elbow hurts. He's thirsty. He doesn't like the food. He doesn't want to go somewhere. And on and on and on..... I tell him he's like a little old man who is never happy because he can always find something to complain about.

He's constantly touching someone. Constantly. If I'm sitting down, he's all over me. He's sitting on my lap. Or rubbing my leg. Or laying on my lap. Or grabbing my butt. Or pinching my leg. Or flicking my arm. And it's not just me, if I'm not around he's doing it to someone else - usually his sisters who get quickly annoyed. And on days when I'm at work, I know he does stuff to my mom and MIL. I've seen him whack my mother in the butt a few times because he thinks it's funny or flick her (remember the Flicker?). I don't tolerate any kind of hitting, even in jest, so this really drives me up the wall. He knows we don't think it's funny but he continues.

But what's funny is even with all this, he's still the extremely lovable Bryce that we know and love. It's just this new, added side to him that drives us up the wall. My mom said it seems he's turning more into a big boy and she might be right, although I don't think there's any kind of real pattern that all boys follow, but in my mind, this is one stop on Bryce's path as he grows up.

This evening I finished up trimming his nails for him (and he complained the whole time), I looked at his hands and feet and noticed how big and strong they looked. I told him that hands and feet were like puppy paws and that I think he's going to be a big strong boy. Of course then I told him that it made me sad because I love my little Bryce so much. He just flashed that handsome Brycey smile and walked away. Of course then I got to have my usual snuggle time with him post-book/pre-sleepy time and all was right with the world. That and he didn't attempt to flick me.